Mental Health

Mental and chemical health promotion can improve quality of life and physical health, and early intervention services can lessen the burden of both.

Unrecognized and untreated mental and chemical health conditions can disrupt development across the lifespan, social connections, family life, education, employment and economic stability, and full community participation. Early intervention and support for families can prevent child and parent mental and chemical health problems and promote overall health and resiliency at all stages of life. When left untreated, mental and chemical health conditions can worsen and become disabling or less amenable to treatment.

Convening with community partners with expertise in mental health services will be integral to achieving progress regarding the issues around mental health awareness, understanding and services provided in the community. Through Collective Action of this Collaborative a mental health taskforce was created to further define the issues identified and develop strategies which will result in more healthful living.

The overall charge of the Meeker-McLeod-Sibley Healthy Communities Mental Health Task Force is to reduce the negative impacts of mental health issues facing the community. The specific purpose of the Mental Health Task Force will be guided by the members of the task force with guidance from the Meeker-McLeod-Sibley Healthy Communities Leadership Team (CLT). Strategies and interventions will go across the continuum of mental health services from prevention to treatment. Data collection, analysis, and monitoring will be the crux of the Mental Health Task Force in order to demonstrate outcomes of improvement.

Mental Health FIrst Aid

The taskforce received funding from the Medical Reserve Corp to work on Mental Health First Aid training.

Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour course that gives people the skills to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The evidence behind the program demonstrates that it does build mental health literacy, helping the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness.

Staff from MMS CHS are currently working to train agencies and community members. Some agencies that will be trained are:

Public Health Staff

School Staff

EMS

Law Enforcement

Mental Health First Aid: From a phone call to a movement video explains more.

QPR

Ask a question, save a life! QPR trainings are being offered across Meeker, McLeod and Sibley counties.

QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer – the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life form suicide. Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of people each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.

It is the most widely taught gatekeeper training in the United States that teaches best practices in suicide prevention. QPR is included on SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based practices and programs.

QPR gatekeeper training is intended for community members 16 years & older and professionals including healthcare workers, first responders, law enforcement, educators, clergy, bankers, lawyers, and more!

For more information on upcoming trainings in your area, or to host a training, contact Tammy Diehn at diehn61@gmail.com or (507) 381 – 4082.

Understanding ACEs: Building Self-Healing Communities

Meeker McLeod Sibley Community Health Services is working to address Adverse Childhoon Experiences are the most powerful determinant of the Public’s Health. Adverse Childhood Experience is a public health disaster. Until very recently, this public health disaster has been hidden from view. Our society has treated the abuse, maltreatment, violence, and chaotic experiences of our children as an oddity that is adequately dealt with by emergency response systems—child protective services, criminal justice, foster care, and alternative schools—to name a few. These services are needed and are worthy of support—but they are a dressing on a greater wound.

The prevalence of ACEs in Minnesota—they are common—they are endemic. The biologic impact of Adverse Childhood Experience transcends the traditional boundaries of health and human service systems. The impact is enormous. The public health impact of ACEs can now only be ignored as a matter of conscious choice.

The first step toward healing comes with understanding the problem. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study findings represent a paradigm shift in human understanding of the origins of physical, social, mental, and societal health and well-being. We now know that leading causes of disease and disability, learning and productivity problems, and early death have their roots in the cumulative neurodevelopmental impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Meeker McLeod Sibley Community Health Services has staff trained in the ACE Interface curriculm. Our trainers can provide the Understanding ACEs: Building Self-Healing Communities presentation. This presentation can provide your agency information about the ACE study, along with neurobiology that explains why ACEs impact people’s lives, and what we can all do to dramatically improve health and resilience for this and future generations.

Please contact Kerry Ward at 320-864-1512 or via email to set up your presentation today.

Partnership with Walk 4 Life

Outreach to High Schools –

The taskforce will reach out to 12 local school districts to see if there is interest in the school implementing the SAVE Linking Education and Awareness for Depression and Suicide (LEADS) curriculum. The group will also seek interest in providing a presentation/speaker opportunity for students on mental health and suicide awareness. More information on SAVE LEADS curriculum:

LEADS is Linking Education and Awareness for Depression and Suicide for Youth is a school-based suicide prevention curriculum designed for high schools and educators that links depression awareness and suicide prevention. LEADS for Youth is an informative and interactive opportunity for students and teachers to increase knowledge and awareness of depression and suicide.

Resources

Make it ok

Together, we can Make It OK–Together, we can all work to reduce the stigma. This campaign along with the education being offered across our communities will help guide people on how to talk about mental health.

Meeker McLeod Sibley Healthy Communities will be providing educational materials and a media toolkit to our partners around mental health, the MAKE IT OK program and how we can learn to talk to each other about our mental health.

Listen to a podcast. There are many comedians and comedy writers who have battled depression in their lives. The Hilarious World of Depression, sponsored by Make It OK, looks at depression through the eyes of eight comedians. Host John Moe and the comedians he talks to use humor as way to start a conversation to help end the stigma of mental illness. You can find these at https://makeitok.org/take-action under the podcast tabs.

TPT and Make It OK have worked together to bring programming about Minnesotans from all walks of life to talk with candor and humor about mental illness. Mental illness has long been shrouded in secrecy and embarrassment and it’s time to break the stigma and talk about what each of us can do to “Make It OK”. Visit http://www.tpt.org/make-it-ok/ to watch an episode or two.

Watch for billboards in Meeker, McLeod and Sibley Counties between February 2018 and July 2018.Make It Ok BrochureTo learn more about the Make it ok campaign, visit their website at www.makeitok.org

Crisis Hotline

Help is available now!

Crisis services are available 24/7 if you or someone you care about is having a mental health crisis.

Text MN to 741 741
Crisis Text Line

Free help for people across Minnesota who are having a mental health crisis or are contemplating suicide.

Call **CRISIS (274747)

In the Twin Cities metro area, call **CRISIS (274747) from a cell phone to talk to a team of professionals who can help you.